I listen to a lot of jazz (Ellington, Mingus, Basie, Tatum, Davis, Coltrane, etc.), but no opera.
i'm definitely with you on Ellington and Davis. about a year ago i heard the (new) ellington orchestra, led by Paul ellington, who is Duke's grandson. Paul is young, but very talented, and a very nice guy, too. (i got to talk with him and a couple of his friends after the show.) the band was awesome--it was in a club in NYC, so the sound was incredible. hearing Duke's music live was beyond belief.
I got to hear Dizzy once live also, and he was a truly wonderful person.
if you ever want to try opera, anything by Puccini sung by either Mirella Freni or Kiri Te Kanawa is great. Puccini wrote arias with great melodies--it's almost like pop music.
there is a movie called "copycat" about a serial killer, where a Puccini aria (sung by Mirella) is played in the background in one scene, if you want to hear something incredible.